It is true: in Japan you find people reading entire novels on their mobile phones. Although this is not exactly new (the trend has been around for a year), it is still noteworthy and begs the question why tech-savvy people living in the Western hemisphere haven't picked it up yet.

Your eyes probably hurt just thinking about it: Tens of thousands of Japanese cell-phone owners are poring over full-length novels on their tiny screens... In the latest versions, cell-phone novels are downloaded in short installments and run on handsets as Java-based applications. You're free to browse as though you're in a bookstore, whether you're at home, in your office or on a commuter train... people are using cell-phone books to catch up on classics they never finished reading. And people are perusing sex manuals and other books they're too embarrassed to be caught reading or buying. More common is keeping an electronic dictionary in your phone in case a need arises.

It could just be a cultural thing. Wondering why tech-saavy people in the West aren't all into reading eBooks on their phone is like wondering why all art-loving people in the West aren't into reading comics. Over there (Japan) "adults" read comics in public, while over here, "adults" are not supposed to read comics.

Obviously, they aren't waiting for our perrmission to find intriguing uses for their technology. Over here, we wait for someone to give us permission.
POL9A

and here we are, two-and-a-half years later, finding that
there are novels breaking big with the cell-phone readers,
which are then published in hard-copy to sell big numbers
(as in the 400,000+ range). is anyone surprised at all this?

It could just be a cultural thing. Wondering why tech-saavy people in the West aren't all into reading eBooks on their phone is like wondering why all art-loving people in the West aren't into reading comics. Over there (Japan) "adults" read comics in public, while over here, "adults" are not supposed to read comics.

Obviously, they aren't waiting for our perrmission to find intriguing uses for their technology. Over here, we wait for someone to give us permission.
POL9A

The average cell phone does really poorly in direct sunlight. Can you see trying to read on one of those screens in sunlight?

Heheh, that's why they read all their manga (comics) on their cellphones on the commute to work; i.e., in a nice dark subway train (or train with all the shades drawn). Still not too many reading actual books on their phones, and I shoulder-surf quite often. Perhaps all this book reading is being done outside of Tokyo?

The average cell phone does really poorly in direct sunlight. Can you see trying to read on one of those screens in sunlight?

Yes, they are not great, but I read on my Nokia E65 with Mobipocket while on the beach on holiday last week. The backlight had no effect, but the sunlight was reflecting of the backlight diffuser. It did mean that there were some odd colour patterns across the screen (from the light going in through one colour filter and out through another I suppose) but the black on white text was quite readable, and I read 3 books that way with no eye strain.

My wife's iLiad was much nicer to read in sunlight though, but it wasn't allowed on the beach (too sandy), only on the balcony.